Chapter 5
Finally the tidal waves that had been racing around the world during the birth of the new island in the Atlantic Ocean subsided. The entire United States Eastern Seaboard was changed. As was the coastline of any country exposed to the Atlantic.
The entire worlds land mass was saturated. Mudslides were common. Vegetation was starting to die from the continual rain fall. Rivers swelled and overflowed everywhere. Places normally arid and dry were awash with water.
100 and 500 year flood plains were flooded and then some. More and more millions died in the flooding, the world over. Cities that were built near water courses were flooded and sometimes large portions were swept away in the roaring of flood waters.
Temperatures continued to fall as the world was denied the sun's warming glow. First the high altitudes suffered snow instead of rain. As the world cooled, more and more snow started to fall at lower altitudes.
Finally, the previously supersaturated atmosphere stopped dropping the excess moisture, as the clouds started to run out of water vapor, and the sun managed to make its way to the surface of the wounded earth in a few places. It was almost three weeks to the day since the earth was struck.
The ringing of the phone woke him. Looking at the clock he noticed it was 4:03AM. THE PHONE WAS RINGING! Greg threw his covers one way and he jumped out of bed. Clicking on the lamp by his bed he picked up his satellite phone and answered it.
"Greg? You there?" Asked the voice of his brother.
Greg swallowed hard. "Steve? STEVE YOU SON OF A BITCH! You made it!" Greg yelled and laughed at the same time. His brother was alive!
"Got that right. I am sitting comfortable up here in the space station. We've been here since mission end cooling our heals. Say, I have someone who wants to talk to you. Hang on."
"Dad?" A girls voice said.
"Jessica? Baby... " Greg stopped, chocked up. His daughter's voice sounded so good to him.
"Daddy? Are you ok? Whats wrong?" Jessica asked worriedly.
"Nothing hon. I am just so happy to hear from you. God, I have missed you so much." Greg said regaining control of himself.
"How have you been doing down there daddy? We are fine up here. Are you at the house? Have you been taking care of Patches?" Jessica asked.
"Your horse is fine. He has been ridden everyday for the last week, despite all the snow. He seems to like being out in it. Can I talk to Uncle Steve now baby? It was good hearing from you." Greg said.
"Sure. Love you daddy"
"Love you too Jess."
"She has been pestering me to call you for the last couple days, so I said what the heck gave it a whirl, and what do you know, these things still work!" Steve said jubilantly.
"Actually, I have been trying for a couple days now, but it was only just now that I got through. I take it your at home?" Steve asked his brother.
"Yes. After 4 days of rain, I got a small convoy together, and we managed to make it home just before the house got snowed in. We got about 5 feet of snow on the pass road, and a little less than that on our access road. I had Ed stop salting it since there was no where to go anyway."
"Well, the clouds are breaking up. The weather people up here say that the world is going back to a more normal weather pattern. It has changed though. Not surprising, huh?" Steve laughed.
"You got that right. Say, what can you see of the earth from up there? How bad did the US get hit?" Greg asked.
"Well, a lot is still obscured by cloud cover, but the US got hit bad with a tidal wave on the Eastern Seaboard. California looked like it was on fire, I mean the whole state, before the clouds covered it, so I still don't know what happened there. China and Russia had a small Nuclear war. North and South Korea did the same. A Nuclear explosion was noted around Israel, so I guess they do have the bomb.
"There seems to be a new island out in the Atlantic Ocean about 232 miles off the US located about midway between New York and Florida. From what I can see of the earth, a lot of flooding has taken place. I am keeping an eye out for a place to land my bird and get back to you. Might be a while though. It is really wet down there."
"Wet? You don't know the half of it!" Greg exclaimed.
They talked for another half hour. Several people were up watching Greg talk on the phone, burning with curiosity. Coffee was on and he was drinking his second cup when Steve said he was going to hang up.
"Thanks for taking care of my girl, Steve." Greg said quietly.
"Hey, what's family for? Just your normal take your niece to space day, you know?" Steve replied laughingly. Greg laughed too.
"Don't worry. I am not coming down until I have a fix on a good place. Besides having the advantage of being able to enter earth for a specific place to land on earth, I have about 40 minutes worth of fuel for flight."
"Steve, you guys ok up there? I mean, how are you set for food, water, oxygen, that sort of thing."
"Between NASA and the Russian Space service, we have enough supplies to last a long time. About a year I guess if we had to stay that long. We have a space shuttle parked up here, ready to take a load of people back to earth. The Russians have a capsule here too. They can take three people off the station. The shuttle can take 9 people, and I can take 1 with me. So everyone has a ride if they want it. We just need to find a landing strip or good runway somewhere. I'll keep you informed."
"Ok. Guess I will talk to you in a day or two. Call me if you notice any changes in the earths condition you think I should know about." Greg said.
"Will do. In the meantime, go shovel some snow!" Steve joked. Hanging up.
By now everyone in the house was awake, having been told that Greg had received a phone call. It took him a while to answer all the questions and fill everyone in on what his brother said.
Mrs. Graso got busy with breakfast, and soon everyone was eating a cheerful breakfast. The phone call had lifted everyone's spirits considerably. After breakfast, the normal chores were quickly done. Eggs collected from the chickens, the two cows milked and fed along with the horse.
The best thing was no snow was falling. This was the second day where no snow fell. It was still cold. It was 23 degrees according to the thermometer mounted on the front porch.
Sgt. Ballerton took a vehicle everyday to check to see if anyone had gotten close to the house. He was worried and wanted to start mounting a guard. Greg vetoed that idea as he pretty much knew it was impossible for anyone to drive, let alone walk up the hill in this much snow.
Sgt. Ballerton also made sure every vehicle was started twice a day and run for 20 minutes to insure that the batteries remained charged in this severe cold, and that everything worked alright.
It was the same day of the phone call that they heard it. Greg listened for a minute, but it was Ed who identified it.
"Thats a snow plow. Someone is going up or down the pass road with a plow. Sounds like down. It's straining, but not as bad as if it were going up hill. I would say this is a plow from up the pass." Ed stated firmly.
"Damn it. I thought we would have longer. Someone up there is in a hurry to try to get to the bottom, and that's going to open the road a lot sooner, if your right." Greg said.
"Give me a few minutes to get ready. I'm going to take an AN/PRC 77 with me. Same freq. As convoy sir. 20.05. I will call as soon as I make a recon." Sgt. Ballerton said. (AN/PRC 77 stands for Army Navy Portable Radio Communications... series 77.)
Soon, Sgt. Ballerton returned, dressed out in white overall and a white jacket over his uniform. He had also changed his boots for ski boots, and had his weapon slung over his back, muzzle pointed down. Carrying cross country skis he was ready to go. He went over to the pickup, removed his weapon, placed it on the front passenger seat, and got in.
Soon the house disappeared from view. Sgt. Ballerton was starting to worry a bit. Major Baron was a good man, and a good officer, but a lousy tactician. Ballerton had interceded when and where he could, but it was getting harder to get the men and woman to take this seriously.
When he returned from this recon, he was going to have a serious talk with the major. This sound that had disturbed the people at the lodge was a point he had been trying to make since they had gotten here. Security was tantamount. This was going to have to change.
As Ballerton got to the end of driveway, he entered the access road, turned the vehicle around and pointed it up the driveway, and shut off the engine. Getting out, he grabbed his weapon first, and cross slung his weapon, muzzle down. He grabbed the skis from the back of the pickup, and walked across to the wood line, and put the skis on.
A short 10 minute cross country ski trip brought him to the edge of the tree line and gave him a good view of the Hoodoo Pass road, going up and down the mountain. He removed his skis and took the binoculars out from under his White Cammo jacket.
He looked at the Hoodoo Pass road and it was fairly clear. Putting the binoculars to his eyes, he looked carefully up and down the pass road, paying close attention to the vehicles he saw.
Reaching into his jacket, he brought out the hand set and started his report.
"Charlie base, this is Charlie Mobile, over."
Major Baron responded instantly. "Charlie mobile, this is base, over."
"Charlie base, I have three heavy salt trucks going downhill from my position. First truck is breaking the snow and only taking half a bite of it. Second and third trucks are clearing a wide lane for at least one way traffic. Last two vehicles are salting, how copy." Sgt. Ballerton asked.
"Good copy. Suggest you maintain watch until vehicles out of sight, then rotate a watch, over." The major responded.
With a sense of satisfaction, Ballerton acknowledged the command and signed off, keeping watch. Finally, the man was starting to take this seriously. It was not a lost cause after all.
He watched until finally the taillights were no longer visible, and got up, after checking the area carefully, put his skis on, and went back to the truck. A short time later he was in the lodge recounting again what he had seen.
"So it was at least three trucks opening the pass road. First truck was trail breaker sir. Second and third trucks were heavily clearing, and third truck was throwing salt. First and second trucks had full loads of salt, last truck I could still see some salt, but he had been throwing it for some time."
"Actually, it's spreading salt, Sgt. But I understand what you mean. Good job. We need to re-evaluate our situation, and take some action." Greg said.
"Sir, we need to mine the woods next to our road. Put out signs if you want warning people, but get the mines out. Not a lot, but enough to let people know we are serious. We need to build a barricade across the access road from Hoodoo Pass road. The terrain will not allow for any vehicles to do anything but go on the road. Trees are too heavy to the right side of the road, and the grade is to steep on the left side.
"We need to build forward observation points, and heavily sandbag them. They need to be spots we can defend easily, and command the terrain." Sgt. Ballerton went on at some length, and Greg listened closely. Finally he nodded.
"Sgt. Ballerton, I leave it to you to carry out the changes that need to be made. You're absolutely correct, and I have been remiss in not thinking about this sooner. Take charge of the proactive defense and let me know if you need anything more." Greg told him.
Sgt. Ballerton was ecstatic. This man saw his mistakes, and acted on them as quickly as they were pointed out. He did not try to blame or dodge responsibility. His estimation of the major took a turn for the better.
Three hours later Ballerton went into the house for a cup of coffee. He had been checking out the snow mobiles and had a plan to use then as fast scouts. They could also be used to haul logs for the construction of the barrier he wanted made.
He noticed that Tracy was sitting in a recliner by the dying fire in the fireplace, crying. He hesitated, and then went over to her.
"Whats the matter miss?" He asked her gently.
"Grandma didn't come. I miss her. Why couldn't she come with us?" She sobbed.
"Tracy, your Grandmother is a very brave and tough woman. She is a base commander, and the military does not give those posts to just anyone. Yes, she sent you away with your mom and us, but she stayed to 'COMMAND' her people. That's her job. She would have been a poor commander if she had abandoned her post. I have a great deal of respect for her, and I am sure she is ok." Ballerton told her.
Tracy smiled a little, and wiped her eyes. "You think so?" She asked timidly.
"I know so. People like her are very tough. She has thousands of people to help, and to help her. She will be alright." Ballerton finished.
"I was going for some coffee, but what say we see if we can't weasel a couple cups of hot chocolate out of Mrs. G?" Ballerton said.
Tracy nodded, got up, took his hand and they went off in search of hot chocolate.
Outside, equipment was being assembled for the barrier. Logs were being cut from the trees that had been behind the house for the last couple years. Bolt holes were drilled, and notches cut. The snow mobiles were fired up, brought out, and started hauling logs out to the location chosen to be the barricade position.
Four hours later they had a log barrier that was almost five feet in height. A 15 pound shape charge was laid on its side and braced, pointing so the force of the blast would tear through the middle log, throwing wood splinters and shrapnel forward if set off. Then it was topped off with snow.
Wire ran from it to a bunker being dug opposite from the driveway to the lodge. Another barrier gate was put in place across the entrance to the driveway. The charge could be set off two ways. Disturbed from the source of the charge, or detonated by an observer. Several claymore mines had been set out and camouflaged. These were to be set off by the soldiers who manned the bunker if they were in danger of being over run.
Sgt. Ballerton had teams observing the road constantly. Radio checks were required every 30 minutes the first day. That relaxed to once an hour after a whole day went by with no further movement on the road.
Two days went by and then the radio came to life.
"Charlie Base, this is outpost. I have vehicles moving up the pass. Also see what appears to be smoke rising from close to the vehicles, over."
"Where is the smoke coming from. Town? Or where? Over." Base asked.
"This is outpost. Can't see the town from here, so it must be from a closer source. I see 3... no, make that 4 vehicles coming uphill now. Three snowplows, and one looks like a cattle car, over." replied the outpost observer.
"Outpost this is base. Copy one truck hauling a cattle car and three snowplows, over?"
"Roger that base. Also now seeing what appears to be a pick up following behind the cattle truck, over."
" Understand 5 vehicles now, over." Base repeated.
The forward observation man kept an eye on the vehicles as they slowly climbed the Hoodoo Pass road. He started to be able to see into the interiors of the vehicles and updated his report.
"Base, this is outpost, update, over."
"Outpost this is base, go ahead, over."
"First vehicle, snowplow, 1 drive and that's it. 2nd vehicle, snowplow with driver that's it. Third vehicle snowplow, drive and passenger, armed with rifle, 4th vehicle Cattle truck, driver and passenger, no sign of weapon. Pickup has driver, two passengers, over."
Base repeated all this back to outpost for verification. Outpost confirmed.
A short time later, all the vehicles passed the turn off for the lodge, but all the passengers turned to look at where the road should be as they passed. This too was reported to base.
"It had to be a raid sir. That's all it can be. Smoke coming from this farm you say is about where the smoke is coming from." Sgt. Ballerton said grimly.
"Well, I am going to go down and see for myself, it's all I can do. We have two snow mobiles. Two people per snow mobile and I know the route down there like the back of my hand. We can be down there within the hour." Greg said.
And so it was. 45 minutes later, Greg pulled into the front yard of the, Kingman farm. What he saw was not good. The house had burned down. Part of the barn was scorched, but had not burned. The chicken coop was burnt also, and all the chickens were dead. Cows moved about and lowed.
A dead dog that had been shot was laying on the what was left of the porch. Greg raised his hands to his mouth and called out. No answer.
"Alright, we need to secure this area. Albright, Edwards, you go through what's left of the barn, and the major and I will cover you."
Just as they started in that direction, a shot rang out!
"Stay away you murderers!" yelled a young voice.
"Hold on there! It's me, Greg Baron from up the hill. Is that you, Adam?" Greg yelled.
"Mr Baron? Is it really you? I thought you were those people from yesterday back again." The voice said.
"Can you come out where we can see you? We're not going to hurt you." Greg replied.
"You all set your weapons down, I will come out." The voice said.
"Alright, were doing it, just take it easy son." Greg said calmly.
"I don't like it sir. He could have us all if he wanted." Sgt. Ballerton said.
"I know. But he is a neighbor and I trust him not to shoot us." Greg replied, laying his M-16 on the ground and stepping to the side. Soon all had their weapons on the ground.
Adam Kingman came out of the barn then. He was dirty, and bloody.
"You alright Adam? You need medical attention? Where you hurt?" Greg said, concerned.
"It's not my blood. It's my mom's dad, mom and sister's blood."
" Can you tell us what happened here, Adam?" Greg asked gently.
Adam related what had happened. The trucks had shown up yesterday, and came into the yard. At first they seemed friendly, and then during the night they just went crazy. They had shot his dad in the head in front of his kids. They raped his mom and sister. Adam had taken off as soon as they were concentrating on his mom and sister, and Greg could see it was eating at him.
"Son, there was nothing you could do. Where is your family at?"
"I drug 'em into the barn. They're dead. I couldn't leave 'em to burn in the house." Adam said, finally breaking down.
"It's ok son. Let it out. You did right." Sgt. Ballerton said.
When Adam had recovered, he continued the story. They had loaded as many cows into the family cattle truck as they could, and then took all the canned goods, threw them in the back of the pick up, and then set fire to everything. They had looked for Adam for a while, but finally gave up. Adam had managed to put the fire out in the barn, but was unable to save the house and chicken coop.
"Adam, we will take care of your family for you, but it will have to be later. You need to come with us. You'll be safe up at my place."
"I'm going to kill those bastards! They killed my family!" Adam almost screamed.
Greg held Adam, rocking him, making little crooning noises. Slowly, Adam regained composure again. Greg told Sgt. Ballerton to check out the bodies, and see what he could do with them.
An hour later, with an extra passenger, and saddle bags filled with dead chickens, the party returned to the lodge. Dusk was falling by then, and Sgt. Ballerton wanted to go check the outposts and make sure everyone was alright, fed and had enough warm clothes. The temperature was falling down to below zero during the night.
They had turned the dead burned chickens over to Mrs. Graso, and she, along with her kitchen help turned out 10 chickens for dinner that night, with mashed potatoes, green beans, and corn on the cob.
After dinner, Greg called a meeting of his officers and Sgt Ballerton.
"We need to do something about that crew at the top of the pass. From what the outpost reported to us earlier today when that pack of murderers went by, they all looked at the road coming in here. I think we can expect a raid our way soon.
"Sgt. Ballerton, I leave the defense up to you. You have the practical knowledge and I put you in charge. Use us as you see fit. I want them crushed when they come for us. Try to save some of their vehicles if you can, but priority is our safety. We know they are into raiding, rape and murder. I don't want any prisoners." Greg finished quietly.
Sgt. Ballerton nodded his understanding. "I won't let you down sir. With your permission, I will draw up a plan and submit it to you tomorrow morning." He finished.
Greg nodded and said, " We understand each other then." He looked from Lt. Preston, who had not really had anything to say, and then to Sgt. Ballerton.
The next morning after breakfast, Sgt. Ballerton walked Greg through the plan he had. It was very comprehensive. From the count yesterday, 7 people had been involved in the raid. That was how many were counted in the vehicles coming back.
"Sir, I walked up that hill, and checked out your wind generator. It sits in a little saddle, and if we had a position on one of the saddle hilltops, we would get even more advanced warning. The clouds are thinning out, and we are starting to see greater and greater distances.
"I would also like to break out a starlight scope and do a recon up the hill tonight or tomorrow night. It's only another couple thousand feet to the top of the pass, and I doubt seriously anyone up there has any night vision devices." The Sgt. Added.
"Why a starlight scope? Why not NODS?" Greg asked.
"The past couple nights have been brighter. If tonight or tomorrow night is the same, a starlight scope gives a much better picture than NODS. They can magnify objects from great distances, as well as show heat sources. I won't be surprised. A Starlight scope also magnifies light by an incredible amount. " Sgt. Ballerton stated firmly.
"Alright, if that's what you think is best, see to it. Now we have
some fortifications and traps to finish." Greg said grimly.